"When did I bite her head off?" Noah asked, exasperated.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure that day you were explaining the site codes to her qualifies." Noah grimaced at the memory as Rick continued, "Anyway, as I was saying, try being nice and see what happens. Maybe she'll set the tone for you. If nothing else, it would ease the team's restlessness. They feel your stress, even if they don't understand it."
Noah ran his hands over his face. "Shit. I hadn't realized."
"Hey, that's why I'm here. Call me sensei." Rick grinned.
"Nice." Noah shook his head, then sighed. "I actually feel better talking about it. Thanks, mate."
"Anytime."
Chapter 15
Thanksgiving
Noah stumbled into the break room in search of coffee. A flash of red caught the corner of his eye. Steam billowed from the cup Claire’s hands were wrapped around. Tea, he presumed, as he'd never seen her drink coffee.
"Good morning," she said, watching him methodically pour and doctor his morning caffeine boost.
"Morning," he replied. Mornings weren't his most productive time of day anyway, but the later-than-usual poker game last night made him sluggish today. He needed his caffeine jolt this morning.
"It's Friday," she said.
Sipping his coffee, he leaned back against the counter and watched Claire study him. "So?" he asked. She was kind of cute when she scrunched up her nose like that. He shook his head. Nope, not doing that.
"Isn't Friday a travel day for y'all?" she asked.
Because England was such a long flight home, he rarely bothered, but everyone else usually flew home each weekend. "My ten-hour flight isn't really worth a weekend home, only to turn around and come back."
"Oh. I never thought about it like that." She frowned and wrinkled her nose again. "How come I never see you around on Friday, then?"
Noah mentally reviewed his calendar. "Since we rarely have project meetings on Fridays, I usually visit the local plants and get caught up on my operations duties. I've been observing how they manage their inventory and production schedules. We've solved a few problems comparing notes."
"I see. That's smart." She paused, stirring her tea, and his curiosity kept him waiting to see what she'd ask next. "What about next week? Aren't you going home for the holiday?"
Next week was Thanksgiving for the US offices and they were off for two days. Employees often saved their vacation days and took off the entire week, which meant getting anything done during a holiday week was next to impossible. The same thing happened at Christmas.
"Thanksgiving is an American holiday. I don't get the day off. And Canada's Thanksgiving was last month, so they've already celebrated theirs." He wasn't sure if Claire knew a few of their teammates were Canadian. Aside from Rick and Jenny from VIG, the repair center in Calgary had strategically volunteered several members for the extended project team. The Canadian controller liked to have his fingers in the pie.
"So, what, you'll be up here working by yourself next Thursday and Friday?" she asked.
"Not sure. But I am on call since the other plants don't shut down. I'll either come in to the office or work from home." He smirked. "You Americans always think the world revolves around you." The expected protest didn't come.
"What about everyone else on the team? Are they flying home to work or staying here?"
"I think those who live in the states are flying home and taking the holiday, but the non-Americans are staying in Houston for the week to get ahead of the schedule. You know, taking advantage of interruption-free days." He waited to see what that brain of hers cooked up. He could see the gears churning. She made connections quicker than anyone he'd ever come across, but he wasn't following her train of thought right now.
"Yeah, no kidding," she agreed absently. "Um, we're doing a massive Thanksgiving get together at my apartment complex. Y'all should come. There will be tons of food, all homemade. And it's an eclectic group of people, so the menu will offer plenty of choices."
Noah froze, unsure of how to respond. On one hand, the food she'd brought the week before last had been fantastic, and working in a nearly empty Houston office was nothing like being back in his own space. On the other hand, fighting the pull between them at work was bad enough. No telling what seeing her in a more personal environment would do.
Claire bit her lip and looked away, developing an interest in the non-functioning clock hanging on the wall. "Do you think they'd be interested?" she asked, then sipped her tea.
It was a kind offer. "You should ask them. With as much as the core team travels, we always appreciate a home-cooked meal. It's certainly been a while since I've eaten one." Unsure what made him add that, he watched as she shifted from foot to foot. "Send a group email. See what they say. If the cooking's anything like what you brought last time, I'd be daft to miss it."
She looked back at him and he smiled. Her face lit up with a matching smile, and his heart skipped a beat.
"Er, I better go work on that site list." He made his escape before he said anything foolish.
